Gavent Television Group naming rights scandal
The Gavent Television Group naming rights scandal was a dispute between BenzBot and AGavent, owners of rTV Networks and Overtime Studios respectively, and MichaelIsGr8, owner of Roblox TV Studios, over the name to the former "Gavent Television Group", a group owned by AGavent until November 2014 when the company was acquired by rTV Networks to become the group's subsidiary rTV Networks Gavent. The acquisition On November 9, 2014, AGavent, owner of Gavent Television Group, and jonmar1, owner of the channel ROFlix, approached BenzBot (through AGavent) about a merger between the two companies and rTV Networks. While AGavent favored a new company overlaid on top of the partnership which would merge the three companies (AGavent proposed the name "TriVision"), BenzBot preferred a strategy similar to an acquisition, since BenzBot did not want to dilute the fiercely independent rTVN brand. To deter worries of overcontrolling the new companies, BenzBot offered them autonomy under the rTVN brand; they would be separate companies except for the fact that their names and ownership would reflect that of rTV Networks, and they would be able to work with rTVN whenever needed. Any current agreements the companies had independently would still be honored under their new subsidiary status. As part of the deal, some GTG channels were merged with their rTVN counterparts in order to streamline the company and reduce redundancies; any networks which still exist were not already the focus of an rTVN channel, or in the case of Gavent Network, were not merged due to unfavorable conditions for merging. Blox, a former joint venture between GTG and rTVN, was to become a full rTV Network with AGavent remaining as "Co-Manager of Programming and Content" for the channel. The deal was approved that day, with Gavent Television Group being acquired by rTV Networks to become rTV Networks Gavent, and ROFlix folded into a new company, subsidiary rTV Networks RoFlix. The dispute Issues began on January 17, 2015, when Michael commented on the accuracy of the Robloxian TV Wiki in a message thread on BenzBot's wall. Within it he had accused BenzBot of having connections with DragonDipperBlossom, a user Michael does not like. The accusations were unfounded. On that day Michael quietly took over the former Roblox group of Gavent Television Group. The real dispute, however, began six days later, on January 23, when Michael claimed Gavent Television Group was an "independent group" unrelated to GTG's successor, rTV Networks Gavent. The usage of the name by Michael is in violation of the terms of the acquisition-merger deal, which ensured the rights to names not being used by rTVN for rTVN Gavent would remain or return to AGavent, including the name "Gavent Television Group". Michael argued that since the group was vacated by both AGavent and BenzBot, he could take the group without issues, and that there were no implications to him using the name regardless of BenzBot's requests, and that it was simply a personal agreement between BenzBot and AGavent. When AGavent commented on the thread, agreeing with BenzBot (and also making the first of many references to buddbudd222's scandals), Michael acted like he didn't know who AGavent was. After comments on potential scandal, Michael retorted that "doing things BenzBot can't handle", and "like rTV Networks, absorbing groups into his own" was insufficient material for scandal, while accusing that personal relationships with some members, including buddbudd222, censorship, bias, and falsifying events, things BenzBot has supposedly done, are ample cause for scandal. The following day, Michael accused BenzBot of counter-productivity against "his" group. BenzBot stated that his own group search and AGavent, not buddbudd222 as Michael had said, had informed him of the group change. TheMagRBLX who had given the group to Michael accidentally. Michael had also been removing the GTG page redirect on the Wiki and made it a page about his version of the group. The issue had been fixed and undone several times, and shows attempts by Michael to legitimize the group. On February 2, 2015, Michael claimed his group was "current facts". However, BenzBot pointed out that the merger-acquisition was generally accepted by the industry, noting that attempts to dispute points like this have failed in the past (a reference to buddbudd222). Michael stated he wasn't trying to "recreate the Gavent Television Group", as BenzBot had accused him of, but to "put the group back on its feet", which BenzBot retorted was similar. On February 11, Michael disputed that not recognizing his version of the Gavent Television Group went against the purpose of the Wiki to document all aspects of Robloxian television. BenzBot pointed out that his group remained invalid and illegitimate due to the rights to the name not being his. Michael also argued that he was not interested in the group or adding subsidiaries, contrasting with his previous statements; instead he was maintaining the group in order to fight what he saw as censorship. BenzBot stated he was not fighting, and that he simply wanted to resolve the rights infringement issue. On February 16, 2015, Michael bashed other things BenzBot is involved in, such as roTV, and questioned the legitimacy of Blox News Channel and the start of the rTV Networks; even going so far as to accuse the Robloxian TV Wiki of not following a point in the Roblox Terms and Conditions. When Michael said that Gavent Television Group under his control was doing better than ever, including having peak membership, gaining new allies, and getting attention on the Wiki, BenzBot noted the real reasons for all of these developments: the group currently has six members (one of them Michael's alt), the allies are all affiliated with Roblox TV Studios, and the attention on the Wiki is mostly due to the scandal. Both of them have called out the other as acting similarly to the two sides in the buddbudd222 conflict. During this day's part of the argument, Michael put this scandal page as a candidate for deletion (it was later removed), and accused BenzBot of lacking evidence for his claims, when at times the evidence Michael himself provided was flawed. In addition to removing older threads documenting the conflict, he also sent BenzBot an image (under a misleading title) which related BenzBot with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. BenzBot immediately deleted the message, calling it "insulting". On February 24, 2015, Michael took another former AGavent property, Walt Bloxxy TV, and integrated it into his group. On February 28, AGavent said he did not want Michael to have that group either. Additionally, throughout that week, Michael had commented negatively on the group walls of rTV Networks, Roblox Networks Television, and the Roblox Television Networks Group. First attempt at resolution On February 16, 2015, Michael had made an offer to end the conflict: he would give up the group if buddbudd222 returned to the Roblox TV Studios group for a month. BenzBot, at the time, was willing to accept any offer as long as Michael relinquished the group and any current and future potential claims to the "Gavent Television Group" name. Buddbudd was reluctant throughout the entire process, and while originally agreeing to return to the group, he later backed out, although a message on budd's message wall by Michael may have misconstrued the decision. Both parties have been accused of manipulating buddbudd222's decision to either accept or decline, BenzBot through Skype and Michael through a message posted on budd's message wall with ambiguous meaning. The offer was dropped by Michael only three hours later, saying the idea only benefitted BenzBot, accusing him of having a "pompous mind", despite the fact that the offer was completely formulated and proposed by Michael. Second attempt at resolution On February 18, 2015, Michael offered the exact same offer, along with removing another thread related to the controversy from his message wall. The following day he removed two other threads, and offered an ultimatum, threatening to fully utilize the group if some sort of deal wasn't made before 6:30pm or 7pm ET the next day, Friday, February 20. He continued to claim that BenzBot had bias. BenzBot reiterated he was still willing to accept any reasonable offer from Michael. Ceasefire On February 28, 2015, another fight in the scandal occurred after Michael asked about why BenzBot was in Gavent Television Group, as he had joined about a week or so earlier and Michael had put him in a rank with an increasingly offensive title since. After BenzBot said he was "monitoring the situation" in the group, an argument ensued, concluding with BenzBot entering the Roblox TV Studios studio complex which Michael later joined into. Michael and BenzBot argued for several hours over such topics as if ownership of a group constituted ownership of a name, the reasons for Michael to have Gavent Television Group and the productivity of rTV Networks and rTV Networks Gavent vs. Roblox TV Studios and Gavent Television Group, among others. The final argument was on how easily buddbudd222 could be controlled. This point created the shocking revelation of how Michael became so polarized against BenzBot: buddbudd222 was Michael's only source of information on BenzBot, and buddbudd had lied profusely to Michael about BenzBot. This led to Michael taking Gavent Television Group (or more specifically, getting it from TheMagRBLX), first because it had no owner, and then after BenzBot had objected, to spite BenzBot. Thus, the whole naming rights scandal was due to the lies of buddbudd222. Michael and BenzBot agreed to start a partnership, and for Michael to rank BenzBot higher in the Gavent Television Group, eventually leading to the closure of Michael's iteration of the group and the discontinued use by him of any names belonging to AGavent. However, the closure of the group never happened, and Michael continued to use the "Gavent Television Group" name, thus furthering the dispute. Dissolution of rTV Networks Gavent In March 2015, rTV Networks Gavent split from rTV Networks, becoming Gavent Television Group again briefly before changing its name to Gavent Networks in May. The split facilitated a failed attempt at acquiring the then-soon-to-close ROX Pictures, which would close in July. 2016 On February 22, 2016, tensions once again flared up between MichaelIsGr8 and BenzBot over the groups. In the past year, Michael had also acquired (and, a week prior to this confrontation, divested) a group named "Roblox Network", similar in name to the existing Roblox Networks Television. In an hours-long confrontation, Michael continued to defend his ownership of the group, denying AGavent's rights to the name and suggesting he had the rights to the name by operating and improving the group. BenzBot stressed that he had to give up the group due to the group using the name, the rights of which are owned by AGavent. Michael again brought up Blox News Channel, accusing it of being stolen, when BenzBot argued Michael had "stolen" the name by using it for his group. Other arguments during the incident included whether or not Michael could run the company under a different, original name (Michael said there was no need, in his view); and that regardless of the legitimacy of AGavent's rights to the name, Michael would have even fewer rights that AGavent does concerning it. BenzBot accused Michael of being ignorant and stubborn; Michael implied BenzBot was egotistical and even delusional. Since the confrontation, the battle over the name rights has continued. Initial resolution On February 28, 2016, a second straight day of arguments and discussion occurred. This included additional attacks on BenzBot's usage of the names rTV and Blox News Channel, BenzBot's perceived control over the Robloxian television industry, and as to why Michael owns subsidiaries. RNTV owner SuperLemonade, hoping to end the conflict, played as a third party in most of the day's proceedings, but later left, and stated he would stay away from Roblox and the television industry until the controversy is resolved. SuperLemonade said that the conflict was "literally breaking the industry apart". BenzBot, AGavent, and MichaelIsGr8 came to an agreement, which was agreed upon by all parties involved. AGavent agreed to retroactively license the name "Gavent Television Group" to Michael for use on his version of the group. This resolved the naming rights issue by legitimizing Michael's usage of the name. As part of the agreement, AGavent is to monitor Michael's usage of the name and ensure the name is being used responsibly. BenzBot hopes he can begin to normalize relations with Michael again at some point. New tensions On September 18, 2016, AGavent performed a check on Michael's groups (as permitted under the agreement) and indicated that little had changed since February; Michael was still acquiring and using the names and groups of Robloxian TV companies without permission. AGavent offered an initial ultimatum to cease usage of these names and groups by the end of October, under threat of revocation of the licensing to the "Gavent Television Group" name. On September 19, Michael fired back; continuing to insist that he was only taking abandoned groups, and accusing that the compromise was only made by AGavent to incriminate Michael. Additionally, he returned to a frequent point from his initial defense; that AGavent should pay $300 to the US Copyright Office to legally trademark the name. AGavent reminded Michael of the state of legal rights in the Robloxian television industry, and stated that Michael has been accused of stealing additional networks which were in active use (such as buddbudd222's Buddbudd Gaming Network) without permission from their owners. On September 25, Michael argued that he had no hand in creating the contract or had knowledge of the terms (despite the fact that the terms were explained to him prior to his agreement to them). Michael claimed he had only said "maybe" to the contract, thus not creating an actual agreement. AGavent replied on September 27th stating that Michael's arguments were simply trying to make him look bad. On September 28, 2016, AGavent officially revoked MichaelIsGr8's license to the name "Gavent Television Group", thus making the group illegitimate once again. He also gave Michael ten days to change that group's name to something without the word "Gavent" in it, and to additionally remove groups from RTVS' portfolio that infringed on or used other names for which the rights were not his (such as Jonmar1's ROFlix and the "Roblox Network" group, named similarly to SuperLemonade's Roblox Networks Television), after which further action would be taken. On October 9, 2016, Michael's 10-day "grace period" had ended, and Michael was still in ownership of the stolen groups. After review, it was discovered that he had ownership of 10 groups that have been stolen from at least 4 different users. Due to his failure to rectify the situation, the license expired, thus his version of the Gavent Television Group is no longer legitimate. Previously announced action will soon be taken against him.